Grant County International Airport Explained

Grant County International Airport
Iata:MWH
Icao:KMWH
Faa:MWH
Type:Public
Owner:Port of Moses Lake
City-Served:Grant County, Washington (Primarily Moses Lake)
Elevation-F:1,189
Website:PortOfMosesLake.com
Coordinates:47.2086°N -119.3192°W
Pushpin Map:USA Washington#USA
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of airport in Washington
Pushpin Label:MWH
Pushpin Label Position:right
R1-Number:14L/32R
R1-Length-F:13,503
R1-Surface:Asphalt/Concrete
R2-Number:4/22
R2-Length-F:10,000
R2-Surface:Asphalt/Concrete
R3-Number:9/27
R3-Length-F:3,500
R3-Surface:Concrete
R4-Number:18/36
R4-Length-F:3,327
R4-Surface:Asphalt
R5-Number:14R/32L
R5-Length-F:2,936
R5-Surface:Concrete
Stat-Year:2018
Stat1-Header:Aircraft operations
Stat1-Data:77,335
Stat2-Header:Based aircraft
Stat2-Data:51
Footnotes:Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Grant County International Airport is a public use airport located 6miles northwest of the central business district of Moses Lake in Grant County, Washington, United States. Formerly a military facility, the airport is owned by the Port of Moses Lake, and its 13500feet runway is the 17th longest in the U.S.

According to Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 1,369 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008,[2] 2,920 enplanements in 2009, and 1,442 in 2010.[3] It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation airport.[4]

History

Opened as a training airfield during World War II, the facility was operated by the U.S. Air Force as Larson Air Force Base until

On 24 June 1969, Japan Airlines Flight 90, a Convair 880, crashed on take-off from runway 32R at Grant County International Airport. The power was reduced on the number four engine during take-off, however, the aircraft continued to yaw to the right until the number four engine struck and slid off the runway. It burst into flames, killing three of the five crew members on board. The probable cause was a "delayed corrective action during a simulated critical-engine-out takeoff maneuver resulting in an excessive sideslip from which full recovery could not be effected."

In September 2019, Boeing stored 100 of its undelivered 737 MAX airplanes at the Moses Lake airport while it awaited clearance from the FAA and other aviation regulators to return the jet to commercial service.

Passenger air service to and from Moses Lake ended on 8 June 2010.[5]

Overview

With 4650acres and a 13500feet main runway, it is one of the largest airports in the United States. Moses Lake is famous for good flying weather, as it is located on the east side of the Cascade Range, in the semi-arid desert of central Washington.

Grant County International Airport was an alternate landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle.[6]

Scheduled passenger flights on Big Sky Airlines to Boise and Portland were discontinued on September 1, 2006. The service was subsidized by the Essential Air Service program. United Express, operated by SkyWest Airlines offered nonstop flights to Seattle from June 2009 until June 2010. The airport currently has no commercial passenger air service.

The airport was used for heavy jet training by Japan Airlines (JAL) for over forty years, until the closing of their training offices The airport also had been used for flight testing of the Mitsubishi SpaceJet.[7]

In November 1974, the airport hosted a new Supersonic Transport (SST) Concorde for a month during FAA certification testing.[8] [9] [10]

It is also utilized by the U.S. Air Force and Boeing as a testing facility. Most of the traffic at the airport is general and military aviation.

In 2011, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild AFB in Spokane temporarily moved its KC-135 R/T fleet and operations to Moses Lake while Fairchild's runway underwent reconstruction and other infrastructure improvements, to include an upgrade to the base's aviation fuel distribution system.[11] [12]

The main campus for Big Bend Community College is also located on the grounds of the airport.

After the grounding of all Boeing 737 MAXs from March 2019, approximately 50 of the grounded airplanes were parked at the airport. This was originally seen as an economic opportunity for the airport,[13] but later caused concern as the number of planes stored kept increasing, to approximately 130 by October 2019.[14]

Facilities and aircraft

Grant Co. International Airport covers an area of 4650acres at an elevation of above sea level. It has five runways:

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2018, the airport had 77,335 aircraft operations, an average of 212 per day: 61% general aviation, 15% military, 10% air carrier and 14% air taxi. At that time there were 49 fixed-wing aircraft and 2 gliders based at this airport: 84% single-engine, 12% multi-engine, and 4% glider.

See also

Other sources

External links


Notes and References

  1. . Federal Aviation Administration. Effective April 5, 2012.
  2. Web site: Enplanements for CY 2008 . PDF, 1.0 MB . faa.gov . Federal Aviation Administration . December 18, 2009 .
  3. Web site: Enplanements for CY 2010 . PDF, 189 KB . faa.gov . Federal Aviation Administration . October 4, 2011 .
  4. Web site: 2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A . PDF, 2.03 MB . faa.gov . Federal Aviation Administration . October 4, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121027122657/http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/npias/reports/media/2011/npias_2011_appA.pdf . October 27, 2012 . mdy-all .
  5. Web site: I Fly Moses Lake . 2010-07-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100726101241/http://www.iflymoseslake.com/ . July 26, 2010 . mdy-all .
  6. Web site: SPACE SHUTTLE EMERGENCY LANDING SITES. John Pike.
  7. Web site: Report: Mitsubishi to close Washington operations, halt SpaceJet flight tests. May 23, 2020.
  8. News: Concorde will undergo testing in Washington. Bend Bulletin . Associated Press . September 25, 1974 . 15.
  9. News: Supersonic jet dazzles Inland Empire. Spokane Daily Chronicle . (Washington). (photo) . November 8, 1974 . 3.
  10. News: SST streaks in for basin tests . Spokane Daily Chronicle . Cowles . Cheney . November 8, 1974 . 6.
  11. News: Work relocates Fairchild tankers . Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington) . Wasson . David . January 20, 2011. June 21, 2013.
  12. Web site: Fairchild relocates KC-135 flying OPS . United States Air Force . King . Scott . 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs . January 24, 2011 . June 21, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120417083008/http://www.fairchild.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123239620 . April 17, 2012 . mdy-all .
  13. Web site: Boeing 737s grounding could mean positives for Moses Lake. August 23, 2019 .
  14. Web site: As 737s increase at Moses Lake airport, concern about storage grows. October 15, 2019 .